Water outage closes NMSU Carlsbad early

CARLSBAD — New Mexico State University at Carlsbad closed early at 3:30 p.m. today due to an unexpected water outage.

There will be no Wednesday evening classes tonight.

Carlsbad Water Superintendent Jamey Schweiger said an old fire hydrant at the corner of University and Pierce Streets blew off the main. The water must be turned off in order for workers to fix the problem.

He estimated it would only be a couple of hours for water to be restored to the university, as well as Lowe's and other buildings that use the water main.

Schweiger said the hydrant is old enough that lead was being used to connect the fire hydrant to the water main.

"Back in the day, they used to use lead to glue the pieces together," Schweiger said. "The lead had finally eroded."

During the fix, they will replace the lead with a different material. Schweiger said the lead used does not affect the city's drinking water.

Khushroo Ghadiali, director of marketing and publications for the university, said people can check the school's Facebook page for updates.

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